Thursday, August 4, 2016

Jagat Guru Sain Ji Maharaj

Dalit Saints despite being highly
NAAM dyed, the history writers of
their times or laterdid not pay much
heed towards preserving their life stories along with their contributions for
the upliftment of the society socially and Spiritually . Since majority of the
Indian writers have sprang from the Brahmanical order, they gave raw deal to the Dalit personalities,
may be Saints, worriers, social and political reformers, singers, freedom
fighters etc. Since schooling, letters knowledge, access to the written
literature or writing was the monopoly of Brahmans, so the Dalit heroes and Dalit
cause was ignored deliberately & systematically. If at all any writer wrote
about the Dalit personalities including Dalit Saints, it was their friendship
or enmity with the Rulers and knights hailing from the Upper castes. Some
miracles were associated with these persons of high mystic powers, ignoring
their real worthiness.

Jean
Henri Fabre (1823-1915) a French entomologist, physicist, chemist and botanist said that
history recorded names of the royal bastards, but could not tell us
the origin of wheat. The Dalit intelligentsia correctly criticized the
existing upper caste developed history, education system and
techniques particularly producing trained bulls not genius educated
persons. These knowledgeable persons did great injustice with history making
races, in completely ignoring their history. On reading the following massage,
I got so much moved that I decided to read more
about Dalit literature including contribution of our leaders for the Dalit
emancipation. The words of Gurram Jashua (1895-1971) a powerful and popular
Dalit poet lamented that:-"Our books are as meaningless as the corps of
our fore fathers

If we
confine ourselves in reading these books.

The
posterity will be as learned as a trained bull

That shakes or
nods its head to the prompting of its master”.

This is true in
case of Dalit history and Dalit saints. The Dalit Saints were great democrats
and in their satsangs they decriedthe
caste system classifying humans as high and low on basis oftheir births.. Guru Ravidas having a clear
democratic bent of mind said “ There are only two places in the world to
live in peace, one is democratic ruled country and the otherwas cremation or burial ground”. He
expressed his wish of living happily in a kingdom where all are fed well and
all lived in hormony without decimation of low and high. The Dalit Saints
preached equality andopposed slavery
among human. Their medium of approaching the public was through their satsangs
( Discourses). The Hindu caste designated untouchable and other poor people
were their target so their satsangs carried most of them. Many good
hearted and enlightened upper caste seeing goodness of their satsangs too
adopted them as their Gurus( Mystic Guide, teacher, preacher) The stories associated with the life of Dalit
personalities were mostly to highlight the greatness of Upper Caste Heroes
rather than showing richness of character or high mystical indulgence of the
Dalits. The life stories of, Bhagwan Valmik, Aklevya, Mata Bhilni including
many Dalit saints of Bhakti Guru Ravidas, Sadguru Kabir, Namdev, Chokhamela movement are a few examples. Since the
Brahmanical systems was devised to disadvantage of Dalit Samaj. The greatest
weapon used to enslave Dalits was to strip them off their human rights,
education, property rights. These factors still are forceful weapon used to
enslave Dalits in the disguise ofthe theory of Salvation. To Brahmans the
salvation was possible by following their devised means of, fasting, feasting the
Brahmins, bathing in selected rivers or tanks, to observe celibacy, to worship
in forests while observing strict norms of life suffering, getting head and
face shaved, or keepinghair locks on
head or face. But Dalit saints by dint of their inner rich knowledge challenged
the hollowness of this system, so earned the wrath of ruling class on the biased
advices by the priestly class. No king could dare to defy the dictates in fear
of earning curse of Priests. Brahmins were proclaimed as Bhudevas( Gods on the Earth) Priests were much more powerful and
roosted the laws& customs as per
their sweet will. TheBrahminical
priestly class preached that Gods control universal activities, but they are
under the control of Vedic Mantras(
Verses) and Vedic Mantras were under the control of Brahmanas,so gods are
under the direct control of Brahminsa. So Brahminical religious booksdeclaredBrahmins as gods on the earth and called them Bhudevas.

The life storey recording of
Sat Guru Sain Ji Maharaj is no different than the treatment meted out to the
other Dalit Saints and Dalit Heroes. So in the absence of chorological
writtenlife events of such great
personalities by themselves or their followers during life time of the Dalit
Saints these facts got intermingled. Mostly their life events have been carried
by local people in local dialects, stories, songs by Naths, jogies ( country
side singers) etc. This is true for the life events of Maharaj Sat Guru Sain Ji
“ Saian means God, Master, Husband,
or a title for Muslim saint.

But certainly
he was lucky not to have any direct confrontation with priests as was the case
with Guru Ravi Das & Sag Guru Kabir ji Maharaj His life went on as the
normal life of an Indian barber. The accomplishments and duties of an Indian barber at
the time of Sain were and are still of a miscellaneous character. He is
something of a surgeon and ordinarily a marriage or match-maker, he oils his
clint’s body, shampoos his limbs, pares his nails, shaves his face and head, if
he be a Hindu, and clips his moustaches, if he be a Musalman; amuses him with
gossip and tales; often plays the rebeck and sings his own compositions, which
deftly combine flattery of his master with social satire or pleasentry. But
since Sain Ji was barber to the then king
of Revã, or Bändhavgarh, in Central India. He was very dutiful. His life went
un-noticed till a Mystical Miracle raised the curtain.

As per the Guru Bhagat Maal-Sateek ( By Nrain
Singh Giani ISBN: 81-7601-047-2)) it carrieda legend which at once illustrates Sain Ji’s devotion to saints and the
values in which he was held for his piety, kindness and wisdom. When going one
day to perform his usual ministrations for King Raja Rao Veer Singh (Some
authors have named him as (RAJA RAM),
he met some holy men on the way. He thought it was his first duty to attend to
them; He took them with him, and began to render them with the customary
services. With the greatest mental satisfaction to himself he gave them
consecrated and secular food to relieve their souls and bodies, so he did not
go to the palace to attend to the service of the king. Sain Ji‘s love &
devoted service moved the All Merciful God to disguise as Sain Ji and so served the king on that day. Next day when
Sain Ji went to the king’s palace, he first begged the king to forgive him for
his disobedience of not reaching the palace to serve the king. On this the king
said,“what have gone wrong with you for
asking for forgiveness, you have rendered yourservice yester day in even better way than your usual dutifulness”.The king realized that it was non else but
God Himself who served him as Sain Ji Maharaj’s substitute the day before. Raja
had given his gold necklace to Sain Ji, as reward for his good work, which was
still found hanging from Sain Ji’s neck and Raja touched it to satisfy the
Bhagat Ji. Again Sain Ji Maharaj argued with the king that he had actually not
come, but it may be his Lord in whose love he remained absorbed yesterday. Sain
was overwhelmed with gratitude that God came to his rescue. The Raja realized
that Sain Ji had reached such an elevated stage that God had sent someone else
in his place.Listening this plea Raja
at once prostrated ; fell at Sain’s feet, worshipped him as his Guru (Spiritual
Master), and thus sought an asylum in God.

Guru Arjun Dev
qualifies instances

His devotees,
tasks has the Lord Himself
undertaken to fulfill;
These Himself has the Lord come to accomplishSri Guru Granth Sahib
PagePanna-783

Bhai Gurdas saith thus About this
incident( Var 10, verse 16 )

Hearing of the glory of Kabir, Sain also turned
to become a disciple [of Ramanand].

At night he would be busy with acts of loving
devotion, and by day he would visit the door of the king.One night, some sadhus arrived as
guests and the night was spent on discussions and contemplation on the Lord's
name.Sain found he could not part with the
sadhus and so he failed to reach the door of the king.God, took the form of Sain reached
there and upon serving the king made him happy.Bidding farewell to the sadhus, Sain
nervously rushed off to the king's door.From a distance, the king called to
Sain, and discarding his robes offered them to Sain to wear."You have empowered me"
spoke the king, whose words were heard by all.The Almighty manifests the glory and
greatness of this devotee.

The King begged for his incitation in to Naam Bhakti ( Surat- Shabad Yoga based way to salvation ). It was
accepted by Sain Ji. There after getting
initiation on Bhakti Marg by the king
along with his entire royal family, whole royal family became Guru Sain’s
disciples. The king of Rewa requested Sain Ji to accept Royal pension and
further prayed to stop the service to the king as his barber. It becomes an
established custom that the successive kings of the house of Bandhavgarh should
always be disciples of the descendants of Sain Ji Maharaj. There after Sain Ji
always remained absorbed in NAAM Bhakti (Devotion). But as saints never accept
alms for their livelihood,so he might have continued earningfor his living by continuing his professional
duty.Kabir Sahib had king of Balakh
Bukhara as his disciple but he continued his work of weaving anddeclared “ Mar jayun Mango Nahi Apni Tan KeKajj,Parmarath Ke Karney Mujey Na avey Laj”. Meaning I shall prefer
to die than begging for his livelihood,but for the cause of sangat welfare
begging I donot feel sorry. Guru Ravidas Said “ Hath Kar Vall Tey Dil Yar Vall” meaning I get engaged in working
for living while keeping observed in theservice of Lord orHis worship.
On this analogySain Ji must have
continued to earnfor his living by
working with his hands.

As per
commonly agreed life aspects about Guru Sain Ji Maharaj, he was a barber by
caste, a touchableshudra in Hindu low caste, present day OBC’s, who
were allowed to touch the Higher Caste
Hindus for purposes of rendering them service. Whereas untouchable were to
render service to higher castes avoiding coming in contact with them. Even shadow of an
touchable was enough to pollute an upper caste Hindu. Sain Ji Maharaj was
against Caste system. In his early life Sain Ji might have been idol worshiper,
but later followed NIRGUNA Bhakti Marg.
He becamea NAAM dyed saint which is likedrinking NEEM Juice ( a very very bitter but beneficial) of formless or NIRGUNA Bhakti than takingsweetened poison ofAttributive orSARGUNA
Bhakti it beingunable to break the
web of 84,00,000 cycle . Nirguna Bhakti as means of worship is to worship
Indivisible, Indestructible, Permanent Nam, the creator of every thing in this
universe, including all heavens, astral worlds, continents and even the Brahmand ( The domain of Brahma, the
Hindu- Creator Deity of Physical, Astral & Casual,being One among the Trinity ofHindu Belief ,Brahma, Vaishno & Shiva). Nam
is beyond matter and time. When Nam power is withdrawn, every thing in this
universe ceases to exist including Casual-Spiritual Spheres up to Trikutee, the abode of Brahma.Abode of Indestructible Current or God
remains nothing else. It is as per His Will.

Guru Sain
Ji Maharaj being an Indian saint was influenced by Bhagti Movement ( 1375-1700).
According to Nabha Das Bhagatmal (1575)
He was one of 12 main disciples of Ramanandone amoung Bhakti Movement Saint and Brahmin
by caste.Who lived in Banaras ( U.P) and headopted his deciples even from the low caste Hindus. Bhai Gurdas Ji
saith in 10th Bar “Listen Partap, the Second (Ramanand’s)Sikh

or deciple after Kabir was Sain”, who did remain absorbed in the prayers to
God during Nights and in the day served in the palace” Bhagat Sain Ji promoted Ram Naam i.e.formless God’s name and not “Lord Rama” the , King of Ayudhaya,
who killed Lanka King Ravana and Shudra Saint
Sambuka. Hepreached Nirguna
Bhagati means formless God with out any form ,who is beyond time clock.
Sain ji is said to have composed hymns in Hindi, Marathi,Gujrati and Punjabi. He is reported to have composed Sain Sagar
Granth( Religious Book) and its one copy in Punjabi is kept at Pratap-puraSain Temple Jalander. Sain Ji Maharaj is also reported to have composed
150 Marathi Abhangs besides many more Vannies,Bhajans etc.

Sain Ji Maharaj is reported to have
visited many places far and wide and met many saints,Gurus,Bhagats at places
visited by him to discuss the means of carrying on their revolutionary work of opposing
religious atrocities on the Untouchable by priestly classes, more so Hindu
Brahmins. There are records of his visiting Bidar in Karnataka . He also visited
Rajasthan, Kanshi, Haridwar, united Punjab , Delhi, Jalander and many more
places.

According to
some scholars, Sain who was born in Samvat
1390 and belonged to Karnataka. Their assumption is based on the evidence that
Sain was once in the service of the king of Bidar , a town in Karnataka. It is
the headquarters of the Bidar District which shares its border with Maharashtra
and Telangana.At a distance of700 km from the state capital Bengaluru.

Some others say that Sain Ji remained for most
of his life in the service of the King of Bandhavgarh in Rewa,Rajasthan and thus conclude that he might
have belonged to Rajasthan. Bandhavgarh is about 190kms from Jabalpur city.

Apart from these two schools of thought, there
is another view which believes Sain Ji to be a Punjabi. According to this view,
Sain Ji was born in the early morning of the full-moon day of Maghar (November-December) in 1343 AD in
the village of SohalThatthi
, between Dhariwal and Gurdaspur towns, in Gurdaspur Distt of Punjab. Even now
there stands a Gurdwara and a water
reservoir in the village of Sohal Thathian to commemorate his memory. It is
also said that Sain himself inaugurated the digging of this reservoir on the
bank of which he used to spend long hours in meditation. Punjab Govt officially
celebrated his 654 th birthday on 6th December, 1997 in
this village itself. This also confines his birth in 1343 AD. Every year Punjab
government celebrates SainJi Maharaj’s
birthday as an official festival.

Sain Ji’s father was Baba Mukand Rai
and mother Jivini. Legend saysMata Jivni got the son like Bhagat sain after blessing of
a hermitFaqir
Guriya who came to their home for food ,title “ Sain” means Sayian, a person which is born for God (Sayin)or
Master. Sain ji was not interested in study so his father sent him to his Aunt
Sobhi (father's
sister) at Lahore
when he was hardly of about ten years age. He learnt work of Barber and medication (Hikmat) at
lahore from Ustad Rahin Khan Hazaam (Barber).Sain
Ji married Sulakhani Ji (Sahib devi)of Jalkhar, and led a householder's life.
They had only one son born to them named Baba Nayi. It was during his stay at Lahore (Now in Pakistan) that he
received spiritual enlightenment. Sain Ji had many disciples from both high
& low castes and guided them to attain salvation by following Nirguna
Bhakti Marg. One of his famous disciples was Brahmin Kordass. Baba Sain Ji gave him Namdan (Incitation) and explained the
true way of life. He contributed emencely forending the spiritually devoid systems like Caste system, untouchibility,
dogmas, superstitions, rituals, ceremonies, secrifying animals before deities,
under taking long journies for idol worshiping,reading with out understanding gist of religious books and blindly
following these scriptures etc.

Sain Ji ‘s only one hymn is given in Sri Guru
Granth Sahib Ji(
Dhanasari Ragg),
which is as under:-

Translation:-Making devotion the incense, lamp and
ghee for aarti,
To the Lord am I a sacrifice.
Sing you paeans of Divine joy:
Sing ever paeans of glory of the Divine king. (Pause)
Lord! Realization that Thou art immaculate,
Is for me the noble lamp and the holy wick.
The way of Divine devotion is known to
my master, Ramanand,
Who expounds the Supreme Bliss,
perfection incarnate.
Lord of charming figure ! Across the
ocean of existence take me.
Saith Sain: To the Master of Supreme Bliss, be you devoted(
Sri
Guru Granth Sahib Ji ,Anang695)

This
hymn may be summed up as follows : I am sacrifice unto them who are ever
absorbed in the Aarti of the supreme Lord (In fact the true Aarti of God cannot
be performed with the help of lamp and incense, rather it is possible only with
one's firm faith and deep love for Him.) “O” God, it is only Thy devotees who
recognize you, remember you, and sing your praises. So please bless me with Thy
grace so that I am also able to swim across this worldly-ocean.

Once there was draught in Punjab
area so Bhagat Sain ji came to Delhi

With his family to Diwan Sohan lal. From there he was send to serve a king whowas suffering from a disease. The
king was cured with the treatment given byGuru Sain Ji Maharaj

Sain ji spend his last days
of life with his friends Dhanna , Sadhna,Pipa. He called his son Baba Nayi
to Kashi( Varanasi in UP state) and
told him to stay there for some time, to which he agreed but also said to have explained “ I can not stay there for life time
as he is worldly person”. Bhagat Sain passed away in 1393 AD at Kashi at an age
of 50 years. There after Bhai Nayi lived in Kashi for a year and returned to
Punjab. Later on, he
migrated to Delhi from where Baba Nayi
went into the service of a king of Rajasthan .

Whole philosophy and teaching of Sain
Ji can be briefly summed up as under

·God Almighty is Supreme Authority and granter of Joy and Sorrows in life.

·We should be thankful to God for providing joy, happiness
and wealth, this thank giving should be by following right path for the Self
Realisation, as self Realisation is God realisation.

·Perfect Guru is the source from where we can learn how to
get to the Universal Creator

·FollowSurat
Shabad Yoga for Liberation from the cycle of Birth & Death

·Work to earn livilihood andsupport your family too while remaining
absorbed in meditation. Household life is not a barrier to God realization.

·Oppose what so
ever did not stand the test of reasoning including rituals, dogmas,
superstationbiased infectedreligious holy books which differentiated
betwwn human on the basis of caste, colour, sex and place of birth.

·Every human is
creation of the Lord. Lord can be found in human frame only, nowhere else, so
it was futile to observe external means of worship.